Figuring Foreigners Out describes many very interesting behavior patterns associated with cultural differences. Although they used many generalizations and associations among cultures, I believe the authors did a good job at clarifying the fact that they were generalizations and that cultures have both aspects to varying degrees and that individuals within a culture may vary. I know that American culture tends to be more direct, internal, individualist, and monochronic. Fortunately, my past travels have shown me that I can adapt to more polychronic, external, and collectivist cultures. My biggest struggle is usually indirect communication, particularly when the language is new to me, because I simply don’t understand enough nuances to follow an indirect conversation. Even in English, it is only with my closest 4 friends and intimate family that I am able to manage a more indirect conversation. I certainly prefer it though, because there are many things I prefer to not say out loud and I really enjoy the communal understanding of the unspoken.
I did, however, find several aspects of the Hofstede Dimensions of Culture to be problematic. Particularly the masculine vs. feminine stereotypes annoyed me; why is wanting to be the best considered masculine and liking what you do considered feminine? Also, why does it have to be one or the other? Furthermore, the language of the country description left no room for the extreme variation in a country and was therefore very misleading. For example, I chose Australia to look through the different dimensions of Australia. Australia is a huge country (the size of the US) with many different groups and cultures within it. Something like long term orientation, or the extent of maintaining traditional links to deal with challenges, can have so much variance between communities even of the same province. Attempting to generalize such a varying value for the entire country into one number cannot be even remotely accurate. I cannot imagine that diverse countries such as Indonesia or Malaysia could be accurately represented by one number for each of these values.
However, despite any faults, both of these tools offer critical ideas to think about when navigating a new culture and attempting to avoid miscommunications and misunderstandings. I do think that reviewing the different potential values of a culture will be extremely important before I go on my next trip so that I can look for and adapt to any of these cultural differences before they become an issue. However, I don’t think that I will use the Hofstede country comparison to gain an expectation of the culture; I do not trust its accuracy and would rather have my mind as free of expectations as possible.
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